Bringing nations together for HOMECOMING

With Meghan Duke, Jasmine and Audrey King

Heart Walk in McKey Park

I dag var den "store dag" hvor det rigtigt er homecoming..  Har man set en amerikansk highschool film, så har man hørt om homecoming, men hvad er det nu lige det er udover noget med en homecoming king og queen? 

Homecoming er en uge om året, hvor tidligere studerende, alumni, plejer at komme "hjem" til deres gamle college i anledningen af årets sidste hjemmekamp for footballholdet. Så det er altså homecoming for alumni og footballholdet, og så bliver der afholdt en hel masse events i løbet af ugen op til kampen. 

Min dag startede kl. 7.00 hvor jeg deltog i en "Heart Walk" i en af byens parker sammen med Audrey King, Valdosta North præsident og Jasmine, hendes datter som jeg tidligere har besøgt på UGA (se indlægget her). Arrangementet var sat sammen af en NGO samt flere forskellige lokale virksomheder, og overskuedet går til forsking indenfor hjertesygdomme. Det var tidligt, og det var koldt, men der var heldigvis kaffe :-) 

Derefter blev jeg sat af ved vores Center for International Programs hvor alle de internationale studerende mødtes for at gøre os klar til at deltage i homecomingoptoget. Der var flag fra alle lande som var repræsenteret i optoget, og som den eneste dansker var jeg naturligvis den eneste til at bære det danske flag. 

Efter optoget var der tailgating og så homecoming kampen. Vi smuttede efter kåringen af homecoming king and queen i halvlegen, men på det tidspunkt var det også rimeligt tydeligt at The Blazers (vores hold) ville vinde :-)

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Today was the "big" day where it was actually homecoming.. If you've ever watched an American high school movie, you've heard of homecoming.. But what exactly is it, other than something with a king and a queen?

Homecoming is an annual event that goes on for about a week where alumni "come home" to their college for the last home football game of the season. So it's homecoming for alumni and the football team and there are plenty of other events going on during the week before the game. 

My day started at 7AM with a Heart Walk up in McKey park with Audrey King, Valdosta North Rotary president, and Jasmine, her daughter, who I met earlier up at UGA (read the story here). The event was hosted by a NGO and several local businesses and the profits go to heart disease research. It was very early and very cold, but there was coffee :-)

When the walk was over I was dropped off by the Center for International Programs where all international students got together to get ready to participate in the homecoming parade. There were flags from all the countries represented and as the only Dane, I of course got to carry the Danish flag. 

After the parade there was tailgating and then the homecoming game. We left after the halftime where they announced homecoming king and queen, but at that time it was also pretty obvious that the Blazers would win the game :-)